Tunnel multi floor

ABSTRACT

A multiple floor roadway tunnel has a circular wall and two horizontal slabs, one above the other and spaced apart to create three separate galleries within the tunnel. A service gallery is located between the bottom of the circular wall and the lower horizontal slab. A lower roadway gallery is located between the lower and the upper horizontal slabs. An upper roadway gallery is located between the upper horizontal slab and the top of the circular wall. Openings in the upper and lower slabs are located proximate the circular wall in spaced apart intervals and protected by fire devices of box type, which are connected by closed vertical access galleries for passage of people between galleries. The service gallery has at least one circulating shuttle vehicle, which may suspended from the lower horizontal slab, to allow for local access and the evacuation of people.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the construction of roadway tunnels ofcircular cross-section, with two-way traffic, allowing for the creationof two independent and identical roadway galleries, for all kinds oftraffic, and a service gallery interconnected with them, in order toprovide local access for the personnel and the evacuation of people incase of accident or fire inside the tunnel.

2. Background Art

The construction of roadway tunnels using tunnel boring machines is asolution increasingly used, for both economic and environmental reasons.With this technique, the boring machine excavates soil, and insertsprecast segments, in order to form the wall of the tunnel, which becomescircular shaped. Subsequently, a filing on the bottom of the tunnel isexecuted in order to create a platform for the circulation of vehicles,with the two-way traffic placed side by side.

In current tunnels with more than one lane in each way, the diameterrequired is unacceptable for the existing tunnel boring machines.Furthermore, in the case of long tunnels, the existing tunnels are alsoproblematic because it is necessary to built two separated tunnels, onefor each way of traffic because of safety reasons.

Reference WO2004094785 refers to a circular tunnel with two independentroadway galleries, one for each way of traffic. However, the galleriesare much different and it will still be necessary to build a secondseparated tunnel.

Reference EP 1191186A1 refers to a circular roadway tunnel with twolevels provided with separating walls, but each level carries a singlelane in each way, and the upper level only allows for the traffic ofpassenger cars.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A multiple floor roadway tunnel of circular cross section is provided,with the two directions of traffic separated by having two slabsextending across the tunnel's width, one placed roughly at the halfheight of the tunnel and the other placed slightly above the bottom ofthe tunnel, in order to create three overlapping galleries, isolated andindependent: two identical roadway galleries, one for each way oftraffic, and a service gallery.

The slabs have openings, placed close to the circular wall of thetunnel, in one or in both sides of the tunnel, regularly spaced andprotected with fireguard devices of box type, which are connectedthrough closed vertical access galleries, to allow for safe passage ofpeople between the roadway galleries and the service gallery.

The service gallery is provided with emergency vehicles of shuttle-type,circulating throughout and may suspended from above, to allow for theaccess of personnel and the evacuation of people in case of accident orfire inside the tunnel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective sectional view of the multiple floor tunnel.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the multiple floor tunnel.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the multiple floor tunnel through avertical access gallery.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side elevational view of themultiple floor tunnel.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional top plan view of the upper roadway galleryof the multiple floor tunnel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

A tunnel boring machine excavates soil and places precast segments,which are clamped together, in order to form the wall of the tunnel 1,which is circular shaped.

Referring to FIGS. 1-5, inside of the tunnel 1 two slabs 2, 3 areexecuted, along the full width of the tunnel, one placed roughly at halfthe height of the tunnel and the other placed slightly above the bottomof the tunnel. This creates three isolated and independent galleries,one on top of another: two substantially identical roadway galleries 4,5, one for each way of traffic, and a service gallery 6.

On the slabs 2 and 3, openings 7 will be arranged, placed close to thecircular wall of the tunnel 1, in one or in both sides of the tunnel.The openings will be regularly spaced, protected with fireguard devices8 of box type, which will be provided with escape doors. The fireguarddevices 8 are located on both slabs 2 and 3, and are connected throughclosed vertical access galleries 10, which are provided with interiorstairs, in order to allow for safe passage of people between the roadwaygalleries 4, 5 and the service gallery 6. The vertical access galleries10 can be extended through the circular wall of the tunnel 1.

Inside the service gallery 6, emergency vehicles of shuttle type 9 areinstalled, which may suspended from the slab 3. The shuttle emergencyvehicles 9 circulate throughout the service gallery 6 of the tunnel toprovide local access of personnel and the evacuation of people in caseof accident or fire inside the tunnel.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described,it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe allpossible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in thespecification are words of description rather than limitation, and it isunderstood that various changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A roadway tunnel defined by a circular wall, the tunnel comprising: alower horizontal slab located above the bottom of the circular wall; anupper horizontal slab located above the lower horizontal slab and belowthe top of the circular wall; a service gallery located between thebottom of the circular wall and the lower horizontal slab; a lowerroadway gallery located between the lower horizontal slab and the upperhorizontal slab, an upper roadway gallery located between the upperhorizontal slab and the top of the circular wall, and openings in theupper and lower slabs located proximate the circular wall in spacedapart intervals, protected with fire devices of box type, which areprovided with escape doors.
 2. The tunnel according to claim 1 whereinthe fireguard devices on the lower and the upper roadway galleries areconnected by closed vertical access galleries to allow for safe passageof people between the lower and upper roadway galleries and the servicegallery.
 3. The tunnel according to claim 1 wherein the service galleryis provided with at least one circulating shuttle vehicle, which maysuspended from the lower horizontal slab, able to allow for local accessand the evacuation of people.
 4. The tunnel according to claim 1 whereinthe lower horizontal slab is located slightly above the bottom of thetunnel.
 5. The tunnel according to claim 1 wherein the upper horizontalslab is located roughly at half the height of the tunnel.